Cathedral News December 2019/January 2020

news cathedral

December 2019 January 2020

Prayer Worship Music Arts Education Heritage Welcoming

The Days Fly By Page 3

The Manchester Sleepout 2019 Page 6

The Cathedral Crib Service Page 11

www.manchestercathedral.org

Dean’s Corner

Non-violence and Peace We now have a new addition to the Cathedral Precinct in the form of a huge statue of Mahatma Gandhi who led the movement towards an independent India. Gandhi did not visit Manchester and yet his message of non-violence and peace to bring about change is still as relevant in our society today as it was over seventy years ago.

I had the distinct privilege of hosting the inter-faith service in the Cathedral preceding the unveiling of the statue which was attended by hundreds of people including the Lord Mayor, High Sheriff and the Deputy Lord Lieutenant Paul Griffiths. The service included prayers and readings from our diverse faith communities, as well as traditional dance and musical performances.

It is my prayer that many will visit the statue and also the Cathedral as part of the visitor experience. Eventually a memorial to those who lost their lives in the Manchester Arena bombing in 2017 will also be erected in the precinct.

It is my hope that these memorials and statues will help us to reflect on the need to build bridges of peace, hope and love in our city. These spiritual virtues are so fundamental to our belief in Jesus (1 Corinthians 13).

Every Blessing, Rogers Govender

The Days Fly By David Holgate, Sub Dean and Canon for Theology and Mission As I write this, there has been another day full of activity in the Cathedral. I don’t need to say which day, for every day is busy here. I often think of our nave as a theatre and stage, with the set changing daily for different events, large and small. Meanwhile, in the Quire and the chapels, the daily round of worship goes on; three services daily.

‘The days fly by….’ I think it was Virginia Woolf who completed the sentence with the words, ‘… death is ever at the gates,’ but I can’t locate the quotation now. I do know that it is the Psalmist who prays, ‘So teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom’ (Ps 90.12).

The older we get, the more quickly time seems to go. Last Christmas seems just yesterday and we wonder how many more Christmases we may see.

How are we to respond to the pressures of time and eternity? May I suggest that we learn to waste time a little more? To spend some time doing absolutely nothing!

Switch off, if only for a little while each day.

For that time, no matter how long, attend to the present moment; let time slow down and keep pace with you. I say ‘no matter how long’ because it is not necessary to say exactly how much time to take. Does this bother you? If so, why? I’m intrigued that the earliest mechanical clocks had no hands, and just sounded a bell each hour, with no minutes or seconds to hurry people along.

The pastoral theologian John Swinton, in his book Becoming Friends of Time, introduces the concept of ‘timefulness’: the process of receiving time as a gift and a space in which to live. So, I wish you a timeful Christmas and a slow and gentle new year.

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Cathedral News

Knife Crime Nidhi Sinha

Over the past few months the Dean has been in conversation with colleagues in the city about the need for a Knife Crime Summit to highlight the issue in our city.

The rise in knife crimes in other parts of the country has been deeply distressing and is also a rising phenomenon in our city.

Manchester Cathedral once again became a place for the community to gather around this summit which took place in October.

A candlelight vigil was held outside Manchester Cathedral on 15 October to draw attention to this issue. The vigil attracted huge interest from the local press and television channels with the vigil being broadcast live on ITV and other television channels. Days before the summit three people were stabbed at the city’s Arndale Centre heightening the importance of the summit.

Dean Rogers Govender said “We hope that the event will raise awareness of the scourge in knife crime which is creeping out of London towards Manchester.

“Rises in knife crime should shock us all. Community and religious leaders cannot stand by while young people, in particular, are seriously injured or killed.

The Manchester Knife Crime Summit is an opportunity to deepen awareness of the causes of knife crime, to listen to and acknowledge the stories of lives destroyed, and, yet, in the midst of such pain explore how, together as one community, we might work to reduce the blight of knife crime in our city and region.”

One of the speakers at the event Nasser Kurdy who was stabbed in Altrincham, after coming back from work, spoke about the need to forgive. He forgave his attacker and does not hold hatred in his heart towards him.

He felt that without forgiveness this problem would persist.

Christianity amongst most faiths places immense importance on ‘forgiveness’.

The Lord's Prayer, in which Jesus taught about forgiveness, is one of the most important prayers in Christianity. It is the responsibility of humanity to forgive the sins we commit against one another. We at the same time, we know that forgiveness is hard, especially if one has been a victim of such crimes. However, our prayer should be that people would not have a need to carry dangerous weapons and that innocent lives would not be lost in this way. We offer our prayers and support to those who suffer the effects of this unnecessary crime in our society.

Holocaust Memorial Day: Remembering Sam Gontarz (1927 – 2019) Rabbi Reuben Silverman

Sam Gontarz was a guest at Manchester Cathedral’s Holocaust Memorial Day in January 2019.

He was born in Łódź Poland, the youngest member of a family of five. In 1939, along with thousands of others, they were all herded into the Łódź ghetto and forced to work. When the ghetto was liquidated they were deported to Auschwitz Birkenau and separated upon arrival. Sam was the sole survivor, saved only by his ability to do leather work.

In January 1945, with the Red Army’s advance, he was placed on a forced march to Austria.

In minus 20 degrees many died en route. In a hospital run by Allied liberators, he learned he was a free man.

Displaced along with a fellow Auschwitz prisoner, they decided to make for Palestine via Italy. Unbelievably they met two other survivors who told Sam his sister was still in the Bergen-Belsen camp. Returning there he was reunited with her and her friends.

This bliss was soon shattered as she and her friends were killed when their lorry left the road.

The journey to Palestine was diverted when Sam was claimed by a distant relative in England. Over time he built his own business in the handbag trade. He married in 1958 and raised a family. Only in later life was he able to talk about his experiences, believing it important in the hope of being able to change attitudes.

A book about Sam is to be published next year; more information about his life and the forthcoming book can be found at https:// www.samgontarz.com/ Holocaust Memorial Day and the 75th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz will be observed in Manchester Cathedral on 27 January 2020 at 10am.

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Cathedral News

The Manchester Sleepout 2019 Charlotte Vale

On Friday 8th November almost 400 people braved the weather and slept out in the grounds of Manchester Cathedral to raise vital funds and awareness for the Booth Centre, a charity that supports people who are homeless to plan for and realise a better future.

The Booth Centre first opened its doors in 1995 at the Cathedral.

Manchester Sleepout participants were welcomed into the Cathedral for a performance by Streetwise Opera - who rehearse every Wednesday morning at the Booth Centre. Then Bernard shared his personal story about sleeping rough and moving off the streets and Booth Centre CEO Amanda spoke about homelessness in Manchester and the work of the charity.

People then bedded down outside and prepared for a very cold night. It didn’t rain but that didn’t stop people getting damp and

then fighting to stay warm. For those that made it to the morning a breakfast was then served before people returned to their loved ones to be in warm surroundings once again.

Participants are asked to return all sponsorship money

by Friday 6th December after which a final total of vital funds raised will be announced.

Thank you to everyone that was involved with the event, thank you for being a part of the solution and working to end homelessness in all its forms.

Annunciation III (‘The Annunciation’ by Fra Angelico, San Marco Convent, Florence) Andrew Rudd, Manchester Cathedral Poet in Residence

She feels the future stir within her womb and gently weighs the promise in her hands.

No more words now. An angel stands beside the chestnut fence, the lawn, the bloom of ordinary daisies. You are here where she is. As you reach the highest stair she welcomes you into her cell of prayer: the door, the window, and the listening ear.

She has swept out all clutter from her mind in an intense and still expectancy; and waits, possessing such simplicity that anyone who truly seeks can find.

For anything can happen in this place the Lord is with you: you are full of grace.

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Cathedral News

The Cathedral Voluntary Choir (the Vollies) Geoffrey Woollatt, Cathedral Sub-Organist

The Cathedral Voluntary Choir has had a very exciting year! In addition to our routine of singing Evensong at the Cathedral every Sunday, we have travelled to Newcastle Cathedral for our annual Summer tour and to Liverpool Anglican Cathedral for a joint Evensong with our counterparts at Chester Cathedral. We also had the privilege of performing an anthem, Justorum animae by William Byrd at the recent Manchester Sermon, given

by Gillian Slovo.

During the August Bank Holiday weekend, the Vollies travelled North East to Newcastle to sing the services at the Cathedral there.

One of the Lay Clerks at Newcastle Cathedral, Philip Almond, used to be a member of the Voluntary Choir, so it was great to see and hear him again.

We sang music by a wide range of composers, including Richard Ayleward, William Byrd, Charles Wood, & Herbert Howells, all performed wonderfully, especially with such a short amount of rehearsal time.

I have written a blog about the tour which can be found on https://spark.adobe.com/ page/56xE7PoM2Q73Y/ which also includes lots of pictures from the weekend.

In October we made our way to Liverpool to sing Evensong with the Chester Cathedral Nave Choir. It was certainly an exciting experience to sing Dyson in D and Light out of Darkness by Edward Elgar in such a huge space, and with two choirs.

Our next summer tour will be to Ely Cathedral in August. We are very much looking to forward to meeting up with our former Sydney Nicholson Organ Scholar, Aaron Shilson, who is currently Assistant Organist to the Girls’ Choir there and will be playing the organ for us.

On Saturday 14 December we will be singing our annual Family Carols Concert in the Cathedral at 7.30pm. As always, there is a mix of well-known Christmas carols, such as Away in a manger & Ding dong! Merrily on high (with a slight twist!) as well as more modern works like Ring the bells by Paul Fincham. Tickets available from http:// familycarols2019.eventbrite.co.uk/

The Voluntary Choir sing Evensong every Sunday during term time at 5.30pm.

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Cathedral News

Ten Years of Authorised Lay Ministry (ALM) Jamie Mackenzie

On Sunday 19th of January the Manchester ALM (Authorised Lay Ministry) community will be gathering with their supporters at the Cathedral to celebrate and give thanks for 10 years of the scheme. When the initiative started there was no lay ministry training available in the diocese except for Reader Ministry, so the then Bishop of Bolton, Chris Edmondson, worked very hard alongside other Church House staff, particularly Peter Reiss and Jayne Prestwood, to get something up and running … and the Authorised Lay Ministry scheme was born!

In part the scheme was a response to a number of national reports and papers that, at the time, were calling for a response to the serious decline in the numbers of stipendiary clergy. However, the real heart and vision behind the scheme was always about more than just ‘filling holes.’ Long before the national churches’ Setting God’s People Free report, the Manchester ALM course was set up not only to give more confidence and permission to lay people who felt called to none ordained ministry but also as an explicit recognition that, ‘laity and clergy are equal in worth and status, complementary in gifting and vocation, mutually accountable in discipleship, and equal partners in mission.’*

The original vision had always been for 300 trained and deployed ALMs, a figure that was surpassed earlier this year at the annual Commissioning Service. So the January 2020 service will also mark the beginning of a Fallow Year in which the community will also be taking time out to listen to God in discerning a new vision for the future of the scheme.

* Quote from Setting God’s People Report, 2017.

Cathedral Community News

The Cathedral Crib Service Agneta Koenraads

The Cathedral’s Crib Service held on Christmas Eve each year is a wondrous thing. This is a service that speaks to everyone of all ages and for those who attend, with or without their families, it has become an important part of Christmas.

the Cathedral suddenly fills with people and we find costumes and seats for hundreds of people. It is chaos. And yet....

Children are the centre of the service. All the children who come are invited to dress up and become part of the story. Some years we have 20 angels, numerous wise men and women, and a hoard of shepherds, each with the obligatory tea towel headdress. There is one rehearsal an hour before the service for the key roles and the adult helpers, but otherwise the Service comes together on a wing and a prayer. Twenty minutes before the start,

There are moments where human frailties appear: two year old angels, who need their mums to accompany them as the host of angels appear before the shepherds, or the young worshipper who puts her own doll in the manger.

Young people start the Gospel readings, the choir sings, the children quieten and start to listen and watch as the Nativity story unfolds.

The joy of the Crib Service is that the children’s silent enactment of the nativity story, in all its chaos and glory, completely illustrates the mystery of the Incarnation.

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Cathedral News

Volition Makes a Difference Donna Denston

Volition, the employability charity created

by Manchester Cathedral, reaches its 8th birthday in Spring 2020. Most readers of Cathedral New will know something about its work, its volunteers and its staff team but for a catch up read on.

Volition supports individuals who are unemployed, or underemployed on part time or zero hours contracts. New groups start every five weeks, so people seldom have to wait very long to access support.

We see people from all walks of life: from those with a myriad of qualifications to those with none. In the past five months Volition has supported a swim instructor, a government vet, a market stall holder, a junior football coach, graduates, people with physical disabilities and anxiety issues and landscape gardeners. So why, when employers are bound by equalities legislation, do people need support? The simple answer is that a lot of today’s recruitment processes are computerised. This leaves those without an ultra-conventional work history out in the cold. Rejections lead to despondency and confidence can quickly erode.

Here at Volition we bring people together to build confidence, acquire skills and wherever possible open doors. We engage with employers to increase awareness and source opportunities. They include Hotel Football, Lloyds, Just Bee Drinks, Hotel Indigo and DWF Law Firm. Group members also choose a volunteering opportunity to enable them to develop skills, build confidence and add to their CV. Some of the highlights this autumn have been planting 80 rose bushes, jarring large quantities of honey and providing a team to help the public on Remembrance Sunday (see pictures).

Does it work? I recently asked the duty manager at my gym for a favour for Volition. As I began to explain about the charity he stopped me and said; “it’s alright I know all about Volition, I was on it”. Clearly, Volition had worked for him.

The Diary December Sunday 1 December 6:30pm Advent Procession Tuesday 3 December 7:30pm MedEquip4Kids Christmas Sing-along Thursday 5 December 7:30pm Children’s Society ‘Sing for Christmas’ Saturday 7 December 7:30pm LGBT Christmas Carol Concert Sunday 8 December 3pm St John’s Ambulance Service Monday 9 December 7pm Christie Charity Christmas Concert Tuesday 10 December 12:30pm Julian Prayer Group Meeting 7:30pm Henshaws Carols by Candlelight Thursday 12 December 7:30pm RMCH Charity Carol Concert

Saturday 14 December 12noon-1:30pm Christmas Carol Sing-along 7:30pm Family Carols Concert Tuesday 17 December 12:30pm Julian Prayer Group Lunch 7:30pm Mercy Ships Carol Service Friday 20 December 7pm ‘Prevent Breast Cancer’ Concert

Sunday 22 December 7:30pm Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols Christmas Eve 12 noon Blessing of the Crib 11:30pm Midnight Mass Christmas Day 10:30am Sung Eucharist 12 noon Evening Prayer

Service Times Midweek Services Morning Prayer Holy Communion Evensong Evening Prayer

9.00am 1.10pm 5.30pm 4.30pm

Mon-Fri (Wed: BCP) Mon-Fri Mon-Thurs* Fri

Saturday Services Morning Prayer & Holy Communion Evening Prayer

9.00am 4.30pm*

Sunday Services Matins Holy Communion (BCP) Sung Eucharist (Choral) Evensong

8.45am 9.00am 10.30am 5.30pm*

*Please note:during the below school holidays evening services are said. All said services are at 4.30 pm

The Cathedral Choir will be on holiday from 26 December until Monday 6 January Please note that services taking place between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day will follow a slightly altered schedule.

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Cathedral News

Looking ahead January Friday 3 & Saturday 4 January 7:30pm Viennese Christmas by Candlelight Saturday 11 January 10am-4pm ‘Worth the Weight’ Fair Saturday 18 January 11am Coffee Concert 1pm-4:30pm Be A Chorister For A Day

Sunday 19 January 2:30pm ALM Service of Thanksgiving Tuesday 21 January 12:30pm Julian Prayer Group Meeting Monday 27 January 10am-1pm Holocaust Memorial Event

About the Julian Prayer Group A Julian meeting is usually a group of people of various denominations, both lay people and clergy, who meet regularly in a house, church, or chapel.

Here at Manchester Cathedral, the Julian Prayer Group meets monthly in the Quire.

Julian meetings vary, but are centred on contemplative prayer in the Christian tradition and welcome people of all denominations, as well as those seeking a place for silent prayer.

The meetings consist of thirty minutes of silent meditation on a theme introduced by one of the members followed by refreshments (bring sandwiches, drinks are provided) in the Cathedral Library. Our next meeting is on 21 January 2020 at 12.30pm.

Community Profile Nita Saleem, Cathedral Visitor Centre Manager What is your favourite film?

The Godfather What music do you like?

London Grammar, The Police, Coldplay What was the last book you read?

Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Where was the last place you visited/holidayed?

The last place I visited was Dubrovnik Do you have any pets?

A Cavapoo dog called Marcus Tell us something interesting or funny about yourself.

A sometime keen runner, I once ran a marathon.

Exhibitions Admission to all our exhibitions is free.

Clergy

Congregation

Dean of Manchester The Very Revd Rogers Govender dean@manchestercathedral.org

Churchwardens & Stewards wardens@manchestercathedral.org

Sub-Dean and Canon for Theology & Mission The Revd Canon Dr David Holgate canon.holgate@manchestercathedral.org Canon Precentor The Revd Canon Marcia Wall canon.precentor@manchestercathedral.org Archdeacon of Salford The Venerable David Sharples archsalford@manchester.anglican.org Cathedral Curate The Revd Steven Hilton curate@manchestercathedral.org

Reader Emeritus Raylia Chadwick ryliachadwick@gmail.com Cathedral High Steward & Chair of Manchester Cathedral Development Trust Warren Smith JP deputy@gmlo.org / 0161 834 0490 Flowers: Helen Bamping Cathedral Friends: Pauline Dimond Ringing Master: Andy Ingham Secretary to Bell-Ringers: Catherine Rhodes

Cathedral Chaplains The Revd Canon Adrian Rhodes The Revd Peter Bellamy-Knights

Staff Cathedral Administrator stuart.shepherd@manchestercathedral.org

Worship & Music Administrator jon.moxham@manchestercathedral.org

PA to the Dean nidhi.sinha@manchestercathedral.org

Chorister Recruitment Officer music@manchestercathedral.org

Cathedral Office office@manchestercathedral.org

Education Officer education.officer@manchestercathedral.org

Accounts Enquiries accounts@manchestercathedral.org

Director of Fundraising and Development anthony.o’connor@manchestercathedral.org

Logistics Officer peter.mellor@manchestercathedral.org

Visitor Centre Manager nita.saleem@manchestercathedral.org

Diary Enquiries diary@manchestercathedral.org

Volunteer Manager (Volition) donna@volitioncommunity.org

Vergers vergers@manchestercathedral.org

Volunteer Programme Coordinator (Volition) john.emsley@manchestercathedral.org

Organist & Master of the Choristers christopher.stokes@manchestercathedral.org

Cathedral Archivist archives@manchestercathedral.org

Sub Organist geoffrey.woollatt@manchestercathedral.org

Cathedral News Editor canon.holgate@manchestercathedral.org Page 15

Cathedral News

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